DIFFERENT STARTS VA STYLE
by xXangel2011Xx
Summary: What if things had gone differently? What if they hadn't been caught immediately?
1. Chapter 1

SO, READERS I'M BACK I HAD STARTED THIS STORY A FEW YEARS AGO BUT I RAN OUT OF INSPIRATION AND NOW I'VE DECIDED TO COME BACK TO IT, SO I HOPE YOU LIKE IT.

I barely had my eyes open before the screams started. I jump off my bed and ran over to hers.

Before I start to wake her I hear her quietly whimper a name, "Andre." It was the nightmare about her family's car crash; she has the same nightmare ever since the crash and it hasn't gotten any better. We had both silently hoped that they would fade over time, but they seem to be getting worse as time goes on. After I had woken her up and calmed her down, I noticed her appearance. Her skin was almost sickly pale, and there were dark circles under her eyes, a side effect of not feeding in a few days. I tried to remember the last time she had fed and I realized that it has been a few days. "Are you hungry?" I ask her seriously. She seems a bit confused by my question, but realization hits her quickly.

I look over at the sidewalk in front of our apartment when I notice something strange, it's oddly quiet. Even though it's 2am, it is a college campus (just play along), so people are out at all hours. I look around before I see the people hiding behind trees and realize why it's so quiet. I spot them, "They're here. 12 guardians, they are going to wait for us to leave then take us. Call Jeremy and tell him to bring the car into the garage. Oh and I'll text my dad and tell him to have a flight to LA ready to leave in 20 minutes" I say. She quickly scurries over to her phone. I hear her tell him to bring the car around, and make a quick excuse about taking a trip to visit our families, while I text my dad the plan. I quickly walk away from the window casually before walking out of the room, trying not to let them know I caught them.

My phone vibrates; I check the screen it reads "from: Abe

Ok."

I pack a bag full of cash and a few outfits for the next few days until we can get settled in somewhere. I have just finished packing Lissa's bag when I hear the garage door open and know it's time to leave. I say goodbye to the first place I've started to call home besides the academy, before I head out into the hallway. "Jeremy, come here. I have to ask you something." I call out. A few seconds later I hear heavy footsteps on the stairs and see his brown hair in the hallway. "Hey Jeremy will you drive us to the airport? Oh, and if anyone asks will you please tell them we are heading to Russia." He nods his head before walking back down to the garage with me in tow. We get in the car and quickly after that my phone vibrates "Why are we going to Russia? I thought we were going to LA?" The message reads. I immediately knew it was from Lissa. I respond:

"We are. But if the guardians ask him questions he will lead them to Russia and far away from us." She looks up and I hear the thought in her head "Oh sorry. Did your dad get the flight?" I respond back, "Yeah. It will be ready in 5 minutes, so that means by the time we get there we should just be able to get on the plane and leave." I sit back in my seat, crouching down as much as possible so if they were looking, the guardians couldn't see me. The ride was calm, and we were never stopped by guardians. I guess they never expected us to notice them and they underestimated us, big mistake.

We quickly reached the airport 10 minutes later. We ran to the plane and jumped inside; seeing something we never expected. Guardians were everywhere. I had never seen so many guardians in one place before, and in battle mode no less. There was one in the front that stood out. He was tall, about 6'6 or 6'7, with shoulder length brown hair and the most gorgeous chocolate brown eyes I had ever seen. It was like he had the ability to see into my soul, to see my every flaw and imperfection. I felt insecure under his gaze, but I couldn't turn away from him.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"I am Dimitri Belikov and I am here to escort you back to St. Vladimirs" He spoke, as if he thought we were going to do what he said. He had the voice of an angel that just made him sound even sexier. He also had an accent that I think was Russian. Hmm let's test my theory out, "You know that you won't be able to capture us. We aren't going back to that horrible place anytime soon, if at all." I say in Russian. His eyes widen in surprise for a few seconds before he responds back in Russian, "I think we could take you. Besides you aren't even a fully trained guardian, and there is only one of you and plenty more of us." My anger spikes and my next words don't help with the situation, "Okay there are two options for you. Either you let us go peacefully and quietly and don't bother us again. The second option is for y'all to get your asses handed to y'all by a little 17 year old girl." I say, teasing them. You could tell that I had achieved my goal of making him and all the other guardians mad, by his next statement.

"Well I guess we'll just have to see if you are just as awesome as you think you are, though I highly doubt it." Guardian Belikov responds. Hmm this is going to be so much fun to see his male ego shatter in front of everyone, I think while licking my lips in anticipation of the fight to come. Before I can defend myself he landed a punch on my arm, knocking me backwards whilst I grabbed my arm. "I guess since you aren't playing fair I won't. I am your worst nightmare." I whisper the venom sinking into my words. I concentrate and take all the darkness that lissa has been holding for me. I feel the burn in my body and hear them gasp. I know what they are seeing; my tattoos. They are blood red, and go from the bottom of my feet, all the way up to my forehead where it takes the shape of a sunburst tattoo. I quickly open my eyes to see all the guardians looking at me, even Guardian Belikov with fear in their eyes. But I see something else in his eyes, a little bit of awe, before the fear overtakes it completely. I quickly let all of the darkness out on the guardians. I watch as they scream; their most painful moments coming back to them. Once I make sure all of them are distracted I snuff out the darkness and turn around to get Lissa.

But, she isn't there. I look around to see her racing down the runway towards the airport. I quickly jump out of the airplane and run off towards her, catching her right before she got into the airport. I grab her arm and yank her towards my body. "Thanks for waiting for me, real polite thing to do for the person who just saved you from going back to the academy." I sneer at her. _Sorry_, I heard from Lissa. I quickly grabbed her hand and tried to run with her out of the airport before the guardians came after us again. That was too close for comfort this time; we may actually have to head to Russia. I guess we could go see Viktoria again; I miss her. I think in my head. Before I even realized it we were back in Jeremy's car and driving on the interstate South East.

"We are heading to Florida if you really want to know. I figured we could head there then hop on a plane to Russia, to visit Mark and Oksana." I say, answering Lissa's unspoken question. "Ok, you might think this to be helpful that a big blacked out van has been following us for about 10 minutes." She said calmly. _Oh crap, how had they gotten away so quickly,_ I thought in my head while looking out the rear view mirror. There they were, the guardians. The people sworn to protect us, but we were running from them; how ironic when we left to protect Lissa. But now that we had left, we weren't going to go back without a fight.

I kept driving; I wasn't going to let them take us back to that place, that medieval torture chamber. I turn the car around and immediately start going back where we came from. I look back to see them doing the same. I press my foot on the gas pedal harder, I look up at the speedometer and I'm pushing 100. I quickly pull off at the next exit and drove to the nearest hotel. "Stick to my side. If I say do something do it. Got it?" I speak directly to Lissa. She nods but the fear in her eyes speaks volumes. I walk into the hotel, Lissa as close to me as possible without it being suspicious. There is a line at the reception so I wait in the line patiently until it's my turn. "Next please," the receptionist says. When I look up I almost faint, the man is the spitting image of Dimitri, but yet I can tell he isn't. "I need 1 room with 2 beds in it…" I look at the nametag and it reads _Paul_, "Paul." I look around the lobby while he types away on the computer. "Ok, I have a room, but it only has 1 bed instead of 2." I reply quickly, "Oh no, that's fine." I see him staring at my chest and I quickly get out a piece of paper and write my number. "If you ever want to hang out sometime, just give me a call." I give him my best man-eating smile before grabbing my room key and walking to the elevator. I punch the number five on the keypad and wait on it to close.

Before it does, though a tan hand shoots out and stops it. I look up, expecting it to be Paul. But what I see almost makes me gasp. Almost, there was Dimitri and a few guardians. Dimitri was the only guardians near us because the others were making sure there was no way for us to escape. He quickly jumped in the elevator with us and I watched the doors slide closed; all the hope of escaping flying out the elevator doors. He leans into me, and his cologne wafted into my nose overpowering all my senses and rational thinking.

"Got you," He whispers into my ear before moving back, with a smirk of pure cockiness on his face. "Not for long." I respond with the exact same smirk on my face. His face paled immediately probably remembering to ghosts and how they affected him. Now that I was really looking at him he had scratches all over him and he had a cut on his forehead that hadn't stopped bleeding. I was brought out of my reverie by Lissa grabbing me and pulling me out of the elevator, Dimitri already opening the door to our room with the key he must've taken from my hand when I hadn't been paying attention. We walked in, but before I could take a second step he had grabbed my arms together with one hand while pulling me to his chest with the other hand. Lissa looked shocked that he would try and grab me, and succeed at getting me. But more so at the fact that I wasn't fighting back. I was too focused on how close we were and I was about to take a step back to get closer to him when Lissa screamed into my head, _what are you doing?_ Her thoughts were like a bucket of cold water, bringing me out of the trance I was in. Before he could even react, I spun around to face him and kneed him in the groin. While he was on the ground I jumped on him, straddling his stomach while I punched him in the face repeatedly. When he looked like he was about to try and flip us over I grabbed his hair, yanked his head up, then slammed it down on the ground knocking him unconscious. I quickly jumped up off his stomach, and grabbed Lissa's hand, before I practically dragged her out of the room. Before we could even get to the elevator, the rest of the guardians came down the hallway, stakes out. I counted them in my head, 7 guardians; 4 girls, and 3 guys plus the unconscious Dimitri, too easy. I smirk and before they can even comprehend what's happening I have already kicked one of the guys in the stomach knocking him unconscious. I then got up and went after the closest guardian, one of the females. I analyzed her; she was really pretty with Blonde waves and deep ocean blue eyes. But she probably won't be too pretty when I'm done with her. I quickly get into my offensive stance while she gets into her fighting stance. I try and punch her in the stomach, but she blocks it. I quickly kick my foot out, trying to hit her in the knees while I tried to punch her in the face again. This time I didn't miss, she was too distracted by the kick to notice my fist until it connected with her face. It made the most sickening cracking noise and I knew it was broken. I then kicked her in the knee which made her drop to the floor screaming in pain, which told me that I had dislocated her kneecap. Only 5 guardians left. I quickly deal with the first four with a few punches and kicks but the last male guardian was harder. It was Paul.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Dimitri P.o.v

I opened my eyes to see the ceiling of the hotel room they had checked in to. It was yellowing and I could see spots of mold in certain areas. _How had she knocked me out? When I first grabbed her she didn't even fight back or try to get out of my arms but then she just knocked me down and slammed my head to the ground. Before she got out of my arms, it looked like she was having a silent conversation with Vasilisa. It was like she was telling Rosemarie to fight back, telling her not to give up. Vasilisa; where are they?_ I thought in my head. I then heard some grunts and screams of pain and got my answer. They were trying to fight their way out. I quickly jumped up from the floor and ran out the door to see my nephew Paul fall to the ground unconscious. Rage exploded in me and I looked up to see who had done this but I already knew the answer, Rose. Before she could respond I had thrown her to the ground and was straddling her hips. I quickly brought my fist up to punch her in the face but before I made contact with her jaw something pulled my hair and yanked me off Rose; Lissa, I thought. I turned around to look at Vasilisa and Rose took this as her chance to squirm out from under me. I checked the hallway for any backup but I saw all the other guardians on the floor either unconscious, or cradling broken bones. I checked the hallway for any other guests before dragging all the other guardians into the hotel room and depositing them on the floor. _How did no one hear the fight and come outside, _I thought. While I waited for the unconscious guardians to wake up, I helped the other guardians with their broken bones; putting them in splints or helping them put various limbs back into their sockets. When everyone had woken up and been sorted out, I called Alberta. "Petrov," She answered. "I couldn't get them. They escaped from the plane, but something weird happened. When we were on the plane Rose somehow took some type of power or something from the princess and shot it all of us. That power was like a blast of darkness making all of us deal with our most painful moments. We caught up with them at a hotel because Paul pretended to be a receptionist and called us when they went inside. I grabbed them and escorted them to a hotel room, while the other guardians made sure there weren't any exits for them to escape from. At one point Rose didn't even attempt to fight back, but it looked like Vasilisa told Rose something in her head to get her to fight and she knocked me out. When I got out she had already knocked out or injured all of the guardians and had just finished off Paul. I got her for a few seconds then the princess got me off of Rose and then they escaped. We are still at the hotel cleaning ourselves up and making it so everyone can fight." I said. I waited for a response but all I got was silence.

After a few minutes she responded, "Ok stay where you are. I will send you back up but you better get them back. I don't know what has happened to Rose but don't underestimate her. She will do what you least expect. She is probably out of the country, or going to be soon so you better find out where they are heading." She responds coolly, before hanging up.

ROSE P.O.V.

Lissa had fallen asleep a few hours ago, so when I saw the shabby hotel in front of me, I decided this is where we are going to stop for the night. Once we parked I got out of the car and walked over to the passenger side of the car, to wake Lissa up. "Lissa, wake 're here." I said softly. She groaned a little but didn't wake up. When that didn't work, I started shaking her. She sat up before opening her sleep filled eyes in my direction. "Why did you wake me up?" She said sleepily, she tried to lie down and sleep again but I pulled her out of the car and started dragging her to the door.

"This is where we're staying tonight. We'll check out in the morning then head to the airport and take our plane to Russia." I said. Once we opened the door, I let out a breath of relief I didn't know I was holding. There were no guardians here; we were safe; for now. I walked up to the receptionist and ordered a room for the night. We walked to the elevator where a couple of people already were. There were two guys. The guy that was closest to me was about six foot three with black hair that is long enough to cover most of his eyes but from what I could see they were ice blue. The second one was an inch or too shorter than the first but I still had to look up to see him. He had shaggy blonde hair that stopped at his eyebrows and teasing ocean blue eyes. They looked really familiar but I just couldn't place where I knew them from.

"So what are two beautiful girls like you doing in horrible place like this?" The first one said with a mischievous smirk on his face, "Ran away," I said the same time lissa said, "Sleeping." When Lissa said this she yawned accidentally showing her fangs. Their eyes widened before they slowly went back to their teasing nature. "Ah two runaway Moroi, I guess since we're runaways too we could protect you. We are both Moroi, though." The second one said. "Oh but only one of us is a Moroi, I'm a dhampir; Rose Hathaway to be precise." I said before sticking out my hand for them to shake.

"Wait you're the Rose Hathaway; the one that ran away with the Dragomir princess?" the first one says, awe shows up on his face when I nod. "So I guess that makes you Lissa then?" The blonde one asks. I nod and realize we have just been standing there in an elevator on the same floor, for the last 10 minutes. I step out on our floor and say, "well goodnight to yall. Don't let the strigoi bite." I walked out the door with Lissa in front of me, yawning like a maniac. Before I could get my keys out and open the door, a hand grabbed my wrist. I followed the wrist up until I saw gorgeous blonde hair and ocean blue eyes. "we want to come with you, if you want us to come meet us at room 308 tomorrow morning at 10:00." He said before walking back to the elevator and getting in.

I walked into our room, and made sure the door was locked. I closed the blinds and hopped into the bed; falling into a dark dreamless sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4: Rose P.O.V.

When I woke up the next morning I felt refreshed. Normally I felt tired and grouchy, but it felt like all the stress that's normally on my body had just disappeared. It was the best sleep I'd had since we had left the academy, I thought. Now it's time to get Lissa up and go meet Christian and Jesse. When I looked over at her bed, she wasn't in it and the bed was already made. I looked at the bed a little closer and saw a note lying on the pillows.

It read:

"_I'm at breakfast, don't worry, I'll save you some donuts. Now hurry up and head down here so we can go meet Christian and Jesse in their room. Lissa."_ I quickly ran to my bag and changed into a black tank top which had an avenged sevenfold logo on it, white shorts with black stripes on the sides, and some sparkly red Vans. I then proceeded to put make up on and pull my hair into a tight high ponytail; doing all this while running out the door.

When I made it to the elevator I saw that I wasn't alone; Jesse was in there too, and by the looks of it he had just woken up, like me. "Well look there it is, little miss Rosie," he teased. "Wow, you don't know how much I missed you last night Goldilocks." I replied back. He grabbed me by my waist and pulled me to him. He leaned down to my ear, and whispered huskily, "Aw you've already given me a nickname." His voice caused shivers down my spine. He then proceeded to pick me up and spin me around, but someone elses voice interrupted him. "Are you going to get out of the elevator for breakfast or are we going to have to drag you out?" a girly voice said, Lissa. "We, is there someone else with you?" I questioned. She had a smile on her face but the look in her eyes surprised me, it was that look you get when you are around the person you like. Then Christian stepped into my line of view, and I understood.

But something he was doing surprised me, he was holding her hand and she wasn't making any move to let his hand go. _Ooh, Lissa's got a boyfriend. Why didn't you tell me?_ I said through the bond. She replied instantly, _because you were busy with Jesse._ We stood there for a few moments, just looking at each other before Jesse and I realized that we were still in the elevator. Once Jesse and I realized we were still in the elevator we got out and headed to get some breakfast. Once I got enough food the four of us sat down in a secluded corner far away from everyone.

"So we were thinking, we could all go to the airport and get a private plane. Don't worry about money, it's not a problem. Then we head to Russia, and live free lives, away from the snobby Moroi royals and their political games." Christian said. I knew Lissa was offended by the snobby royal comment, but she just ignored it. "Sounds good, we'll go upstairs and pack and meet you down here in an hour. By the way you don't have to worry about the plane, I can get it. But we are going to have to make a stop in Turkey before Russia. I've got to visit Abe. I told him that the next time I left the country that I would come visit him." I said. They're eyes widened when I said Abe. "Wait, Abe Mazur?" Jesse asked, with a little bit of fear in his eyes, I nodded at him slowly. When they didn't respond for a while and just stared at me in shock, I grabbed Lissa and dragged her to the elevator so we could start to pack.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Rose's Point of view

We walked out to the blacked out SUV that was parked in front of the hotel, our bags packed and waiting at the trunk. Jesse was leaning against the passenger door looking bored; he must have been waiting for us. "Wow you two really were pushing an hour. You only had 2 minutes to spare. Now get in the car. You walk as slow as turtles." He said when he saw that we hadn't made a move to get in the car. His voice was commanding, yet teasing all at the same time. The smirk on his face showed me that he was joking.

I quickly grabbed our bags with Lissa following right behind me. I quickly put the bags in and jumped in the car. A few seconds later Lissa got in the car after me on the other side. When we got in I noticed that Christian was driving and Jesse was shotgun. "Hey emo boy, let's get this show on the road." I called to him. He gritted his teeth when I called him "emo". I knew that he wasn't emo. It just seemed to bother him because people always stereotyped him that way because he always wore black.

He quickly turned the car on and got on the interstate headed in the direction of the airport. The trip was quiet except for Jesse and me constantly bickering and flirting. When we got out a man came up to us saying he was the one who would escort us to our plane. He had shiny black hair and unnaturally gold eyes, but that wasn't what surprised me. He looked familiar to me. Then the pieces started to click into place; _why Christian and Jesse never showed their teeth and just didn't look like dhampirs._ It was because they were tricking us into going back and they called Paul to escort us back.

"Hey Lissa, do you want to go back to the academy, because that's Paul up there. Oh and Jesse and Christian are actually Moroi," I said through the bond. "Let's go back. I sort of miss being there." She said nervously, awaiting my reaction. "Hey Paul," I called. He turned around with surprise in his eyes. Before he could defend himself I punched him, and I got a sort of sick pleasure from hearing his nose crack under my fist. When the blood started pouring out he fell to the ground, howling in pain. I was about to go and punch him when Jesse and Christian tried to grab me. Key word being tried, before they actually got to me I realized what they were going to do I turned around and punched both of them, breaking their noses too.

I then started walking off to where our plane was supposed to be, with Lissa hurrying to catch up to me. When we got on the plane every eye on the plane was staring at us. "We're back." I called. Dimitri was the quickest to recover because he turned to me and asked, "Where are Christian and Jesse and Paul? They were supposed to bring you to us, not just leave you alone." I chuckled at his question before answering him, "It's because I broke all their noses. It was actually pretty funny, but I must admit, Paul's face was the funniest, guess he has never gotten punched by a girl before." I teased. The second I started to talk about Paul, he showed up with Christian and Jesse in tow. Dimitri's face turned pink with rage and that's when I really noticed the state I left the guardians in. And that was when I started laughing. Lissa asked me why I was laughing and when I told her why she started laughing too. When I looked up and saw the guardians looking at us as if we had three heads I starting laughing more. I just couldn't stop laughing.

All of the guardians had multiple bruises and at least one broken bone. They had bandages all over their faces from where I punched them, and Dimitri even had a black eye. "Wow, a little 17 year old girl gave you a black eye. Really helps your ego doesn't it Comrade?" I said to him.

He decided to ignore my comment and started talking, "Since you willingly gave yourselves up I have a secret for you. I'm gonna be your mentor so get ready for payback from the bruises." He smirked, and I scoffed. "Please, like you could pin me. But I do know some other things we can do with you on top of me. And none of them have anything to do with training." I say, and then I wink at him. His eyes cloud over in lust but before anyone else could notice he put his guardian mask back on.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Rose's Point of View

We had just gotten off the plane when 10 or so more guardians came to escort us to a blacked-out SUV. I saw Alberta and Stan Alto among the group. I remembered them from when I went to school there a few years ago. I hate Stan Alto. "Oh look who it is? The famous Rose Hathaway, I'm glad it took you two years to grace us with your presence again. I was almost starting to miss your attitude," He paused, "Almost." "Well I'm glad you could finally catch me. I missed you Stanny Boy, want a hug?" I said in an overly excited face.

His face twisted in rage and disgust before answering with a quick, "No, and it is not Stanny Boy, it is Guardian Alto to you." We got in the car and I got stuck in between Dimitri and some other random guardian. "It seems like I'm not the only one with not so warm feelings toward you, Rose." Dimitri said. In the SUV there was: Alberta, Stan, Dimtri, Lissa, Me, and some random guardian. Alberta was driving while Lissa was in shotgun, while I was surrounded by guardians.

We were about 30 minutes away when one of my favorite songs Break by Three days grace came on. I started to sing along to the lyrics.

Tonight, my head is spinning

I need something to pick me up

I've tried but nothing is working

I won't stop I won't say I've had enough

Tonight, I start the fire

Tonight I break away

Chorus

Break away from everybody

Break away from everything

If you can't stand the way this place is

Take yourself to higher places.

End chorus

Tonight I feel like a vampire

Lissa giggled at the vampire part and somebody decided to change the station to old country music. "Are you trying to kill me, or turn me into some redneck hick?" I ask. The guardian beside me, who I now know to be as Guardian Conner, tried to hide his laugh behind a cough but it didn't work. "Do you not like the radio station I changed the car to?" A husky voice asked, Dimitri. "Not at all," I paused for dramatic effect, "if I was some redneck hick I wouldn't but since I'm not a redneck I don't like it at all." His eyebrows knotted in frustration. "Well then what do you like?" he said in an exasperated tone. "I like Three Days Grace, My Chemical Romance, and Asking Alexandria, and I am especially in love with Amyst. If you have any of that on cd I'd be quiet about music." I said. "Well I don't think anyone but you, and maybe Vasilisa, know who those bands were so I will not change the channel." He responded. "Fine but if I annoy you with my complaints remember that it was your idea not to change the radio." I replied with my usual Rose attitude in place.

We arrived at school 30 minutes and many complaints later. The guardians started to take Lissa somewhere so I went up to Dimitri and asked, "Hey where are we going Comrade?" "We are going to go meet Headmistress Kirova, and why do you insist upon that horrid nickname?" he questioned. "Well it's better than saying Guardian Belikov all the time, and really Kirova? She is just a self-righteous old bit…" I stopped when I realized which way were going to get to the main office. We were going through the commons, and it was breakfast time. When we got there everyone's conversations stopped so they could stare at us. I look through the crowd until I see someone I know, Mason.

"Hey Mason, why don't you take a picture it'll last longer?" I teased him. "Nah, just realizing you haven't changed a bit. Physically or the way you act." He replied. "Why thank you." I said. "It wasn't a compliment." He replied coldly. While I had been talking to Mason everyone else in my little group had kept walking, so it ended up that Guardian Belikov had to grab my arm and drag me from the common room.

"Hey what was that for? I was gonna come eventually. Gosh, you have a strong grip." I said while rubbing my now red upper arm. "Well if I hadn't been the one to get you, another guardian would have done it, and they wouldn't have been as nice. They probably would've tossed you over their shoulders and walked out. The reason I got you was because we have been waiting in Headmistress Kirova's office waiting for you to show up before she starts talking." He responded. "Well you could've just started without me. I've heard enough of her speeches to basically understand what she was going to say to me." He interrupted me before I could finish, "she was going to expel you if I hadn't offered to step in and mentor you. I figured if you could escape this school and stay under the radar for two years you had some potential, you just needed discipline from what I can see." He said in a very condescending, teacher like voice.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: D's point of view

Her face looked so distraught when I told her they had almost shipped her off to a dhampir commune. Then it quickly twisted in rage, "What do you mean, send me off? I'm the best novice here and I have an advantage, if you remember the incident on the plane." She spoke. When I looked at her confused, because of the concentration her face showed, I looked at her hands which had black energy balls in them. If I were to guess I would say one hit from them and you would die. "Yes but even the best novice with extra powers, without discipline, can be completely useless." I responded. Her face twisted in disgust before changing into the guardian mask I knew so well, because that's what my face always looked like. But I could tell, in her eyes, that she was pained by the thought of leaving this place. No matter how much she hated it, I could tell she thought of it as her home.

Rose's point of view

We started to walk back to Kirova's office in an awkward silence; the guardian sent to retrieve us walked a few feet in front of us to keep us on the right path. When we got in I noticed a few people I knew and a few that I didn't. The people I knew were: Lissa, Alberta, Stan, and Kirova. There were a few guardians on the walls that I hadn't seen before. "Do you really need this many guardians to keep me in line. I should be honored, you think so highly of me." I teased. I saw Kirova's eyebrows furrow before they quickly smoothed out. "They are here to make sure you don't run off with the Princess again. Since I now know what you are capable of I'm not going to take any chances by underestimating you." Before she could finish Stan interrupted, "Please like she has even seen a strigoi before, if she has she wouldn't be here right now; in one piece, at least." His voice was mocking.

Dimitri's point of view

I looked at Rose's face; it was calm but I knew with one more comment it wouldn't stay that way. "Then why don't you call the Alchemists and check under the name Maria Grady. It's the name I used when I was counting my kills." She said her tone uninterested.

Alberta went to call the Alchemists and five minutes later when she walked back in she was a little bit pale and her eyes widened in fear when she looked at Rose. "How, how did you kill that many; it's not possible, you should be dead." She babbled. "Thanks for the vote of confidence Alberta. I know I wasn't as good as Arthur Schoenberg (I think that's how you spell it) but I know it's possible considering I'm here and they're not." Before Alberta could respond I quickly asked, "How many did you kill?" I turned my gaze towards Rose. I barely heard it but there was a faint, "352." My jaw dropped and I heard a few gasps coming from the other guardians. When I looked at the Princess to confirm this, she had this huge look of pride on her face, which quickly disappeared when she caught the look Rose was giving her. It was almost like they had a bond and could hear each other's thoughts. That thought quickly left my head but I kept studying them and the way they acted. How Rose would suddenly just crack a smile and when you look over at Lissa it looked like she was trying to hide a smile as well. At one point Lissa looked like she was silently begging Rose and it looked like she responded because a second later Rose hung her head in shame and Lissa's gaze went over to me.

Her face was clouded in anger, "They wouldn't have dared sent her away. How could you tell her that, I wouldn't have let it happen?" She screamed. So they did have a bond, and she was pissed at me for telling Rose they were about to send her away. She looked like she was about to come and hit me but the second she left her seat Rose grabbed her arm, and shook her head.

"Before we heard of her kills we thought she was just a replaceable novice. Now we realize she is the best novice and we need the best for the last Dragomir." Kirova said, smoothing over the tension in the room. I sighed in relief when they said everyone could leave. "Guardian Belikov, please stay behind. I need to speak to you privately." Alberta said. Before I could even sit down she started speaking, "I know Rose will be a handful. But I can promise you she is worth every moment when you see her in action. So please, no matter how bad she bugs you don't give up." That was all she said before leaving the room.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Rose Point of view

Meet me in the gym tomorrow morning at 6:30,

Guardian Belikov.

Was all the note said. I had found it lying on my bed when I came out of the shower. Well he definitely gets straight to the point, I thought while changing into black shorts and a blood red tanktop. I finished my homework after working on my pre-calculus for about 45 minutes. I just couldn't understand pre-calculus but I could just ask Lissa for the answers. I went straight to sleep, and my dream was about Dimitri.

"If you win, I have to run 5 extra laps next practice. If I win though, I get to skip the next morning practice and you have to do 5 laps." I said.

"Deal," he said while jumping into his fighting stance. I was already in mine so I didn't have to move too much. When he realized I wasn't going to make the first move he decided to kick me in the ribs. Or he tried to at least, I dodged at the last second; which sent him off balance enough for me to kick him in the side and knock him down.

I jumped on him trying to stake him but before I could he flipped us over. He tried getting his practice stake out to "kill" me. But I kneed him in the groin before he got the chance. While he gasped out in pain I quickly got on top of him and staked him. "Dead, looks like the student beats the teacher." I said, while still sitting on him. We were staring into each other's eyes. Our lips were about to meet, I just had to move a tiny amount closer. We were almost there-

I wake up in my bed, the after effects of the dream wearing on. How I could practically feel his body molded to mine, how I could smell his aftershave. I looked at my clock and almost fell out of bed when I saw the time. 7:00, it read; I was a half hour late. I could already tell I was going to be in for a lot of trouble when I got to practice. I quickly changed into some running shorts and a purple sports bra, and ran to the gym. When I saw what he was doing I almost started laughing out loud.

He was sitting there reading and from what I could tell it was a very old western novel. He was also listening to some 80's music that made my ears bleed. "Hey comrade could you please put on some music that doesn't make my ears bleed." I teased. He apparently decided not to justify that comment with a response. "20 laps, most of those are for being late. Another reason that you have to run is that if you don't have a weapon or a car to get away from strigoi in. It would be a good idea for you to be able to run long distances." He said, without looking up from his book.

After I finished the laps, I came in to find Dimitri doing chin-ups, shirtless. I must say, he has the best body I have ever seen. "Come on in, don't just stand there." He said his voice knocked me out of my trancelike state. "I have decided that in the state you're in, we can't have practice. So go and get ready for school, it starts in," He paused to look at the clock, "10 minutes. You might want to hurry so you can get breakfast." I had been running for an hour! It couldn't be 7:50, I thought but when I looked at the clock it said he was right; it was 7:50.

I ended up being 30 minutes late my first class, which to my pure horror was taught by Guardian Stan Alto. When I walked in he looked at me and his eyes narrowed in disgust. "Finally, I was wondering when Rose Hathaway was going to decide to grace us with her presence. Now, why were you late to my class?" he asked. "It took me a while to find something appropriate enough to be in your class, Stanny boy. You should be happy; this is the first time a teacher's gotten special treatment, that didn't end up with them in the clinic." I teased, while sitting in my seat which is in the very back corner of the room. He had decided apparently that he would sit me off in a corner so I couldn't talk to my friends. But I knew if I bothered the guardians around me, they would crack and talk to me. As luck would have it, Dimitri happened to be the guardian right beside me.

We had just gotten some worksheet on guardian theory that we were supposed to work with our surrounding classmates on, but since only guardians surrounded me I decided to ask Dimitri for the answer. "Hey comrade, since you're supposed to help me and I need help, would you tell me the answers to all of them. You know, so I have more time to work on catching back up on guardian training. Before he could comment I hear an annoying voice. "Miss Hathaway stop bothering the guardians. They are trying to protect our school whilst you pester them with your stupid comments." He said in a chastising voice.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Rose point of view

I had just walked into the gym when I heard the radio playing. It was playing a very old song called 'when doves cry'. It was from the mid-eighties. I decided to tease him, I mean who would give up this opportunity to tease him; obviously not me. "Hey comrade why don't you put something on that came out after the Berlin wall?" I mocked.

"It doesn't matter what you think of it because you will be outside running. 5 miles, hurry up and get going." He said ignoring my comment and not even looking up from his book. I walked out the gym doors muttering about how I was going to kill him while he slept.

I grabbed my IPod and turned it on. I put the ear buds in and turned to my new favorite song: _I'm not a vampire_ by _falling in reverse_. I thought it was very ironic and I love _falling in reverse_. I started running to the beat of the song. I got so lost in the music that it took me three laps to realize someone was running with me. I looked back and saw Dimitri running up behind me. I decided to push myself harder and started actually running these last two laps. When I finished my 5 laps he came up behind me and put his arm on my shoulder. Wherever his skin came in contact with mine I felt sparks. "Good job Rose, it only took you 5 minutes to run a mile. That's very good for someone whose been gone for two years. Come on in so we can start sparring." His voice was full of pride at my accomplishment.

We walked to the mats in the gym in a comfortable silence. Before I could even get in my stance, he had lunged for me. I jumped out of the way, so I missed most of the hit, but it still nicked me in the stomach. Even though I had missed the majority of the hit it still knocked me off balance for a second. That second was all it took for Dimitri to pounce and jump on top of me. He tried to pin me, but I flipped us over so now I was on top. I tried to pin him many times but he wouldn't give up. Eventually he pushed me off of him and jumped up. I jumped up a second later. I punched him in the ribs, but he dodged out of the way so I ended up hitting thin air.

Before I could get my balance, he had pushed me to the ground and "staked" me. "You're getting closer, maybe before the end of the year you may beat me; maybe." He teased, while getting up and putting the mats away. "Since you almost beat me, I've decided I'm going to give you the rest of this practice off. But you will still have practice after school today. You can go now." He said. I walked out of the room, trying to take a quick shower.

When I was all dressed and everything, I looked at the clock and saw that I was 25 minutes late. I hadn't even eaten breakfast, so I already knew I was going to get a lecture when I got to class. I ended up being 45 minutes late to my first class, which ended up being Stan's theory class. I decided to go for a dramatic entrance, so I just walked in and sat in my seat; ignoring the mad looks Stan is giving me. "Finally, you have decided to grace us with your presence. What excuse do you have for missing 45 minutes of class." He asked. "Well I decided to go for a dramatic entrance. I can tell you like it when I'm late Stanny, so I decided to be nice and be late." I responded sarcastically. I could hear the laughter the guardians in the back were trying to hide, but they knew as well as I did that they weren't hiding it very well. The other novices in the room weren't even trying to hide their laughter. I looked around and I noticed that everyone in the room was red-faced from their laughter. "Out! Now!" Stan practically growled at me. I practically skipped out of the room, I was that happy to leave his class. But of course every good thing has a bad side; Dimitri has to escort me to Kirova's office. The second we were completely alone he grabbed my arm and pulled into an empty classroom. "What you did in there was disrespectful. You should think about being more respectful to him because every time you mess up it comes back on me." he said. The look on his face was so angry I practically shrank into the wall. When he saw the expression on my face, he calmed down and tried to reach for me but I cringed away from his touch.

When I cringed away from him, the look of hurt on his face broke my heart. His guardian mask soon replaced the hurt and he directed me out of the empty classroom and towards Kirova's office.


End file.
